DLMDD's Ad Roundup – October 2022

A suitably chaotic review of the best music to come out of adland last month by DLMDD Music Consultant Lizz Harman.

1. Ocean Spray – Power Your Holidays

Creative Agency: Orchard Creative

Production Company: OPC

Director: Jeff Low

I love cranberry juice. I love those lil yoghurt covered cranberries. I love The Cranberries! Tart, sweet and refreshing, plus full of antioxidants (the fruit not the band – although maybe the band also fits that descriptor?) not to mention they.. say it with me.. help prevent UTI’s (girlies we know). Sooo what’s not to like? Nothing imo! And we all know Ocean Spray is THAT girl when it comes to cranberry products. Market share – secured. The Tropicana of the Cranberry (juice) world.

Now, granted, this advert puts cranberry sauce (jury’s still out for me), not cranberry juice nor yoghurt covered crans, front and centre, but the intention to promote the goods of Ocean Spray remains. It’s weird, it’s wonderful.. it’s like if Ari Aster decided to make an Ocean Spray ad and A24 distributed it.

The spot begins with a stoic, glum-faced-filled Thanksgiving dinner, but that all changes when the jiggly cranberry jelly is brought out. The dinner guests seemingly can’t help but hypnotically mimic the condiments’ wiggly nature, their gyrating becoming increasingly more erratic as an electronic dance beat soundtracks the festivities, eventually erupting into full-body-convulsing chaos.

Of the music, creative team Christine Taffe and Dohyun Lee note “We wanted a song that felt like it was emanating from the cranberry jellies themselves, the track is bizarre and fun and makes you want to move. The fact that it doesn’t fit neatly into one category of music makes its audience limitless. It’s for anyone who wants to wiggle.”

Thank GOD they didn’t use that insufferable Louis Theroux TikTok song and instead decided to create their very own (much, much better) original ‘Wiggle Wiggle Jiggle Jiggle’ track, composed and recorded by Mack Goudy Jr – a member of Michigan’s electronic music group, The Detroit Grand Pubahs. You can even find the lyric video on YouTube, the trippy tune repeating the words 'wiggle' and 'jiggle' until your brain bobs like cranberry sauce.

2. Palace x Gucci

Director: Max Siedentopf

Picture me, freshly 16, GCSE results in, I’ve passed maths (thank God) and I’m practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of attending my first music festival with all my mates. We’re due to be setting off the next day and are gathered in the school hall discussing what time we’re meeting, who we’re excited to see (me – Fallout Boy obvs) and, of course, how many bottles of vodka we’re each taking. Life is good.

Fast forward. Saturday night. Main stage. Prodigy. I’m scared, I’m exhilarated, I’m in the middle of a mosh pit dancing to Tarantula and I have no idea what’s going on. I am LIVING!!

A hypnotic visual feast such as this needs an equally eccentric soundtrack to match

Point is, The Prodigy are no stranger to soundtracking a good time. And this film celebrating the new Gucci x Palace collab is no different. The film sees the skate label’s wide-ranging stylistic influences meet the Italian house’s cross-generationally adored iconic aesthetic and the track matches this ethos beat for beat. The campaign is big, bold, colourful and brings together a random amalgamation of personas, including aliens, skateboarders, cowboys and footballers, who rave together in a dimension so surreal, even Patrizia Reggiani herself couldn’t have dreamed it up. Of course, a hypnotic visual feast such as this needs an equally eccentric soundtrack to match. And what better than the classic ‘Out of Space’ to do just that?

As we reach the end of my admiration-inspired ode to this stellar campaign film, I leave you with these parting words… Father, son and House of Gucci.

3. Trainline – I Came By Train

Creative Agency: Mother London

Production Company/Animation & Direction: Stink Films/Golden Wolf

There is only one thing to say about this and it’s 🎶 Craaaaiiiiiiig daviidddddd 🎶

4. TK Maxx – Christmas Nailed

Creative Agency: Wieden + Kennedy London

Production Company: Riff Raff

Director: Max Siedentopf

A corker of an Xmas ad.

With the cost of living crisis raging on, Christmas is likely going to be an (even more) anxiety-inducing affair for many families this year. But, that being said, it’s still Christmas, so it’s nice to see a bit of light-hearted silliness cut through the gloom. And, by putting a playful spin on cutting costs, this Christmas ad for TK Maxx delivers just that.

The spot has obscure charm in droves and successfully turns the dreaded moment of receiving a ‘high five’ into high art.

The message here is fun and light, with a perfect soundtrack to match, in the form of Cerrone’s 1977 disco classic ‘Supernature’. Synths, beats, hi-hats and a classic disco vocal work in tandem to keep us in the groove, perfectly complimenting the bold colours, oft surreal visuals, and 70s throwback vibes of the 60 second film.

This one goes out to the masses who ride for TK Maxx, because those who ride for TK Maxx, RIDE for TK Maxx.. you know who you are.

5. Virgin Media – Why walk when you can ride?

Creative Agency: VCCP London

Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks

Director: Jeff Low

If there’s one trend ad-land seems to really be digging at the moment, its CGI animals riding through various terrains aboard silly modes of transport.

We’ve seen a bearded dragon riding through the city streets on a robovac, blasting Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Holding out for a hero’, for Three.

Last year Avanti had a tortoise rollerblading through rural villages, grooving to ‘Habibi Funk’.

And now Virgin Media has a highland cow riding a motorcycle through the rural countryside set to Patrick Swayze’s ‘She’s Like The Wind’..

But what does this all mean!? Well, in Virgin Media’s case, apparently the 60” spot is their “promise to never stop in the quest to make things better for its customers, to challenge the status quo, and nods to their unstoppable spirit.” I assumed the speeding cow was meant to be a metaphor for their ultra-fast broadband, but I guess highland cows can be multi-faceted.

Either way, sounds much better than Now TVs promise to *consistently produce the world’s shittiest Wi-fi that constantly drops out, leading me to believe that the only real way to get the internet to work in my flat is by physically melding my laptop to the router..

*This is not actually Now TV’s promise but is in fact just an astute observation made by me.

Ride on, Virgin Media.